Sunday, August 8th --
This was going to be a VERY different trip. (You might have noticed based upon the title of this page.) Because of
the fires in Colorado during 2020, we weren't able to go to "our lake" this year. So, my brother, our friend, and I
researched alternate places to go to in case the area around "our lake" didn't open up prior to this trip.
Unfortunately, the area didn't open up. So, we went to someplace completely different -- the Bridger Wilderness
area in western Wyoming. As we expected, there were positives and negatives. Overall, it was a great trip.
Nevertheless, we hope to return to "our lake" in 2022. So, here's the story ...
At 11:30am, we drove from Casper to Pinedale. It took 4-1/2 hours. One noticeable thing was exiting the smoke
that was prevalent around Casper. The smoke was from fires in states west and northwest of Wyoming. You could
actually see it, smell it, feel it in your eyes, and even taste it. It was nice leaving it. Obviously.
When we arrived in Pinedale, we checked into the Hampton Inn and Suites. It was a decent hotel. The only issue
was that the walls and floors were paper-thin you could easily hear people in other rooms. The hotel clerk informed
us that they had a complimentary breakfast. However, my brother and our friend wanted to eat a "substantial"
meal prior to hiking. So, that's what we did the next morning. And you'll soon learn why it was fortunate that we
did it.
After unpacking, we did a "test drive" up the hill to check out how the drive was to the trailhead. While driving,
one can see the three nearby large lakes/reservoirs -- Half Moon Lake, Fremont Lake, and Willow Lake. The drive
was straight forward and there were between 80 and 90 cars in the parking lot. Uh-oh! -- Were we going to have
people left and right during our trip? After about five minutes, we drove down the hill and stopped off at a vista
for the view. You could see for about 30 miles.
After returning to Pinedale, we continued on to a restaurant named "The Den" that is located in another town ten
minutes down the highway. They had the reputation as the best steak restaurant in the area. I believe that it is
true, being the best restaurant in the area because both the ambiance was very nice and the service was very good.
After finishing, we returned to the hotel where my brother stayed in one room while our friend and I were in
another room and we called it a night.
Monday, August 9th --
Our friend woke me up at 6 o'clock. I showered and we met my brother in the hallway. We left the hotel and drove
down to a restaurant that my brother had discovered while researching places to eat. While we were sitting at our
table, even before we were able to order our food, we saw one of the "locals." It was a moose. A young male. It
walked past our restaurant, across the intersection, and spent a couple of minutes under some trees in front of an
apartment building. Then, it walked back across the street, hung out at the intersection for about 15 seconds, and
walked out of view from where we first saw it. Cool!
When we finished eating, our friend topped off his car's tank in Pinedale. The gas cost $3.79 per gallon. We drove
about 20 minutes up the hill and at about 8:10, we arrived at Elk Hart Trailhead. There were a lot of cars, about
100 of them, in the parking lot. About eight people were preparing to go hiking and after we finished preparing, we
also left the lot.
At about 8:30, we started hiking. Our first landmark was Miller Lake. (It covers 21 acres and is at 9,940 feet.)
Looking at the directional sign, I took a wrong trail. After walking about 1/2 mile, our friend checked the map on
his iPhone. (One notable thing was that a person could frequently get cell/smart phone service in Bridger
Wilderness. At least, wherever we traveled during our trip.) We decided that we were going the wrong way. We
started hiking back to Miller Lake and soon crossed paths with six other hikers. We compared my friend's smart
phone's map to their printed map and confirmed our suspicion. So, we all hiked back to Miller Lake. Then, we
took the correct trail that hugged the southern edge of the lake. At 1 o'clock, we arrived at our destination --
Middle Sweeney Lake. (It is 27 acres and is at 9,960 feet.) The distance, without the wrong turn, was about 4.7
miles. It took one extra hour because of the wrong turn.
During the hike along the wrong trail, my brother fell twice. Apparently, the weight of his backpack was too much
when he tried to crawl over fallen trees in the trail. Regarding fallen trees, we had noticed that there were a lot of
them. Along part of Pole Creek Trail, there were so many that they were roughly stacked along the trail as high as
ten feet above the ground. Most of the dead trees were Lodgepoles, presumably killed by pine beetles. And less-
traveled trails such as Miller Lake Trail were not as well maintained as more heavily-traveled trails such as Pole
Creek Trail.
We noticed that there were many firepits scattered around the area. That includes near lakes, streams, and trails.
That's somewhat surprising in a place where fires are not allowed. But maybe it's not THAT surprising
considering how many people hike in this area. You will learn more about this when you read about how many
people, and horses, and dogs, that we saw during the trip.
After arriving at the lake, we set up camp in the first site that we found. (I noticed that there was no sign
designating it as a campsite.) It was about 200 feet from the trail and about a 3-minute walk from the lake. We
walked down to the lake and took about 15 minutes to fill our 5-gallon water bladder with water that we filtered
from the lake.
For dinner, my brother and our friend ate Fusilli noodles with sausage. As usual, they cooked it using a bunsen
burner-type device. I ate antelope jerky and Kind bars. Afterwards, the sun set around 7:45 and, being the "long"
day that it was, we went to bed at 8:30.
By the way, that afternoon, I fished with my spincasting outfit and not my flyfishing outfit. As usual, my brother
and our friend only fished with their flyfishing outfits. Unfortunately, none of us caught anything. (Other than me
catching weeds.) Interestingly, no fish were seen jumping or rising. I might have been the only one of us to see a
fish -- a 4- or 5-incher following my lure -- a red-and-white daredevil -- to the shore. That wasn't inspiring.
Airplanes: 32
People Hiking: 45
Horses: 35
Trails: Pole Creek Trail, Miller Lake Trail, Sweeney Creek Trail
Note: Six people hiked by Middle Sweeney Lake while we were in camp
Tuesday, August 10th --
Around 7:20, I got up. (That was nearly eleven hours of sleep.) The sun was already up since our camp was high
above the lake and the surrounding hills. Soon afterwards, my brother and our friend got up. It had been a long
time since I was the first one of us to get up.
Between 8:45 and noon, we fished. Middle Sweeney Lake has two islands within its 27 acres. My brother had one
fish hit one of his two flies and our friend had no activity with his flies. I might have had a couple of hits on a small
red-and-white daredevil. The hits were so gentle/soft that it might have been weeds. While fishing, my brother
and our friend saw the first large animals of the trip -- two moose ... a cow and its calf. My brother said that the
calf was small and couldn't get through the heavy brush to the lake with its mother. The cow got about 50 yards
from the lake, saw my brother in his belly boat on the lake, my brother said that the calf made a whimpering noise,
and the cow turned and went back up the hill to its calf. Fun!
At 12:15, we ate lunch and at 12:35 we took naps. I don't remember when my brother and I got up, but our friend
got up at about 4 o'clock. Between 12:20 and 12:30, pine cones were falling from trees as the temperature increased
and the cones "released." At first, we thought that there were squirrels knocking the cones off of the trees, but
there were too many cones falling from too many trees. Have you ever experienced this?
A funny moment -- when our friend first got into his tent to take a nap, a chipmunk began "chirping." As you
might know, a chipmunk makes noise for a few seconds, stops, and repeats this cycle for up to about 20 seconds.
Well, that's my experience. But this chipmunk, probably since our friend wanted to take a nap, decided to go for
the world record. It didn't perform the typical cycle. Instead, it chirped constantly for about four minutes. Yes,
four minutes! I don't know how it accomplished it. But it was perfect timing!
Speaking of squirrels, there were also chipmunks, camp robbers (robins), crows, and hawks. We didn't see any
eagles, but I might have heard them occasionally. Middle Sweeney Lake, like other mountain lakes, has character
with side-by-side shallow, rocky areas and weedy, deep areas.
At 8:05, we went to bed. Sometime before sunrise, we heard something walking around camp. After waking up the
next morning, our friend found fresh deer tracks nearby. By the way, the temperature that day reached about 75
degrees. During the previous day, it was about 80 degrees. And it would be about 75 degrees during the remaining
days.
Airplanes: 29
People Riding Horses: 5
Horses: 8
Fish: 0 -- I had four gentle hits on a single cast; my brother saw one fish rise
Wednesday, August 11th --
I got up at 8am. While eating breakfast, our friend suggested taking the 1/2-mile hike to Upper Sweeney Lake. It
was agreed, we took some essentials, plus some fishing equipment, and hiked to the lake. Fish were jumping, so it
was an easy, quick decision to move to this lake. We hiked back down to Middle Sweeney Lake, hurriedly packed
everything up, hiked up to Upper Sweeney Lake, and spent the remaining day-and-a-half there. (Upper Sweeney
Lake is 9 acres and is at 10,140 feet.) I again noticed that there was no sign designating the site that we chose as a
campsite. It appears that people can camp anywhere as long as they obey the following two rules -- (1) "No
camping within 200 feet of lakes and trails", and (2) "No camping within 100 feet of rivers and streams."
From 3:20 to 5:30, they fished. From 3:50 to 5:10, I napped. Before the nap, I took a quick dip in the lake. Yes, it
was quite cold. I guessed somewhere around 50 degrees. But I was so tired that the cold water didn't prevent me
from taking the nap.
For dinner, my brother and our friend had lasagna. I ate beef jerky, antelope jerky, and granola bars. At 8:45, we
"hit the hay." Early the next morning, our friend pointed out that he had to go to the bathroom and while he was
outside, he noticed how nice and dark was the sky. I considered the idea of staying up late the next night to check it
out.
Airplanes: 25
Trail: Sweeney Creek Trail
12 people hiked by Upper Sweeney Lake while we were in camp
Fish: 3 --
Our Friend: 1 (11-inch, Stimulator)
My Brother: 1 (11-inch, Stimulator)
Me: 1 (10-inch, red-and-white daredevil)
Thursday, August 12th --
At 8 o'clock, I got up. This was the final day that I got up before they did. Our friend lost the two long-handled
spoons that he and my brother used to eat meals from large plastic sandwich bags. (The way that they made the
food was to boil water, pour it into a large Ziploc bag that contained the freeze dried food, "massage" the food inside
the bag, let it cool for 3 or 4 minutes, and eat it from the bag with their spoons.) So, they ate breakfast with a
shorter-handled spoon and a stirring spoon. While we were preparing to go fishing, a fearless squirrel ran about six
feet away from my feet. Maybe it was used to people. Once again, I didn't have a camera handy at the right time.
Weather-wise, it was a typical, calm day. I never needed to wear anything warmer than thermal underwear and a
flannel shirt. Also, mosquitoes weren't a problem. It might be because it didn't snow or rain much that winter and
spring in Wyoming. We followed the suggestion and hung our food in a bag from a tall tree. But we never saw any
hints of bears. As a matter of fact, when we began our hike on Monday morning, we spoke with a woman who
appeared to be 70 years old. She stated that she grew up in the Pinedale area, had been going to Bridger Wilderness
most of her life, and she had never seen a bear.
The sun set around 7:30 and we crashed around 8:30. I had difficulty going to sleep. So at about 11:30, I got up
and checked out the night sky. Our friend was correct -- Wow, it WAS nice and dark! I saw several objects
including Vega, Cygnus the Swan, and Jupiter.
Airplanes: 27
13 people hiked by Upper Sweeney Lake
Fish: 6 --
Our Friend: 1
My Brother: 1
Me: 4 (two in the morning and two in the afternoon, red-and-white daredevils)
Friday, August 13th --
And this was the last day of our trip. (It's always so sad reaching such days.) I got up at 7:45 ... after they got up.
Lo and behold, our friend found the two missing spoons! So, my brother and he could eat breakfast "normally."
After eating, we packed up to hike back to the trailhead. Then came what was indisputably the most interesting
part of the trip ...
My brother put on his backpack and I helped our friend put on his backpack. Just as we finished, my brother
yelled out "Bear!" Our friend turned around and saw it, but I didn't see it. I asked "Where is it?" and my
brother responded "Right there." (Well, that wasn't helpful.) So, I hustled over to my backpack and quickly put
it on. I looked for the bear again but still didn't see it. We scurried towards the trail to get out of there while they
yelled at the bear to try and scare it away. When we got about 30 feet away from camp, I looked back and saw the
bear. Bear? -- that's not a bear ... it's a cub! Well, it wasn't actually a cub. It was about 18 inches high at the
shoulders and appeared to weigh about 100 pounds. Even though it was not a full grown bear, and it was slightly
larger than a cub, it might still have a mother around. My brother kept yelling at it in order to scare it, but it
started following us out of camp. I told him to stop yelling because it appeared to be attracted to his yells. So, he
stopped and the bear returned to camp. Fortunately, our friend got a photo of it and you can see the photo on the
adjoining page.
Perhaps the funniest part of the scene occurred ten minutes later. We were hiking up the trail when we crossed
paths with a man and a woman. My brother and our friend were ahead of me about 50 feet when one of them told
the couple about the bear. I saw the woman immediately turn and start walking back from where they came. She
explained that she had several encounters with bears when she was young while spending time with her father on
islands (off the coast of Alaska?). I explained the smallish size of the bear and she said that she didn't care. So, all
five of us hiked out towards Photographer's Point. Funny! -- to me.
We hiked 1/2 mile up the hill from the lake to Pole Creek Trail. Then, we hiked a short distance to a place near
Photographer's Point. (It is at 10,092 feet but we didn't hike all of the way to the point. Meanwhile, Pole Creek
Trail topped out at about 10,300 feet nearest the point.) We didn't hike the extra distance to the point, but it was a
spectacular view of the valley and the mountains from the trail. (There is an associated photo on the other page.)
While hiking, I was complimented twice about the "shoulder pads" that I use for my backpack. (I pointed out
during a previous backpacking trip that I place two sheepskin pads on the front of my shoulders in order to protect
my clavicles from my backpack's painful straps. They work great!) Also while hiking, we noticed, again, how
many trees were down, primarily if not solely, due to beetle kill.
We were having hiking issues. My brother was starting to feel cramps in his right calf muscle. Our friend was
feeling cramps somewhere, but I don't remember where. And I had forgotten to bring my non-slip hiking socks, so
I was getting blisters on the bottoms of my feet. Or, at least, it felt like it. So, they took anti-cramping pills and I
"sucked it up." We made it, but I was certain that I was getting blisters on the pads of the big toes on both of my
feet. I discovered after arriving at the car that, fortunately, I didn't have blisters. Nevertheless, I would have to let
them heal for a day or two when returning to Casper.
I hiked ahead of them because of my foot problems. I decided that I would be better off if I discontinued stopping
for breaks. So, I did it and arrived at the car at 1:45. My brother and our friend arrived about five minutes
afterwards. The hike from Upper Sweeney Lake to Elk Hart Trailhead was about 6.1 miles.
When we reached the parking lot, it was overflowing. There were approximately 130 cars in the parking lot. And
when we were driving out of the lot, I counted another 16 cars. Wow!
People Hiking: 81, 25 of which either passed us or we passed them
Horses: 8
Trails: Sweeney Creek Trail, Pole Creek Trail
We drove down the hill and, at the south end of Pinedale, we stopped off at a place named "The Burger Barn" and
ate lunch. It is what is called "a roach coach" and has a large menu with outdoor seating. We ate there on Monday
the 9th and, since it made such a good impression, including large portions of food, we returned.
Epilogue --
- Totals --
Airplanes: 113
People: 126
Fish Caught -- 9
My brother: 2
Our Friend: 2
Me: 5
- I forgot my non-slip hiking socks and my daytime tube socks
- We need to remember to pack up my brother's smart device charger
- The result of eating only instant cereals, granola bars, trail mix, and jerky caused me to lose four pounds during
the trip
- About 75 percent of hikers were women
- This is the first time that I caught more fish than my brother and our friend
- We were "escorted out of camp" by a bear at our last campsite on our last day